How to buy a house in snow-country Japan — written by someone who has.
Six evergreen guides covering everything between "I'm curious" and "I have the keys." Legal steps. Visa & residency. Taxes & fees. Renovation. Municipal programs. The glossary.
Updated quarterly
The five legal steps every foreign buyer asks about — and the order they actually happen in
Visa status, juminhyo, hanko, gas inspection, and the day you get the keys. With the forms you'll need and what they cost.
Visa, juminhyo, and the actual residency questions that decide what you can buy
What visa lets you do what. When you need a juminhyo. What changes when you become a permanent resident.
Taxes and fees, before and after closing what every foreign buyer underestimates
Stamp duty, registration tax, scrivener fees, annual property tax, the resident tax surprise. Everything that isn't the listing price.
Kominka renovation basics what to expect on a pre-1980 akiya
Budget rules of thumb. Which contractor for which job. The five non-negotiables. What to leave alone.
Municipal akiya programs grants, covenants, and the fine print
What a municipal akiya bank actually is. What kinds of grants exist. The covenants you'll be asked to accept. What we have seen go wrong.
Glossary 37 terms every foreign buyer should recognize
Plain-English definitions of the Japanese terms that appear on every listing. Zoning, structure, era names, agreement types.
The grant landscape, plainly — relocation money, renovation money, and the free-house question
What the national 移住支援金 actually pays, how the per-prefecture renovation grants stack, and the truth about ¥0 akiya. Updated for FY2026.
Hakuba, Niseko, or Nozawa — how to pick where to look
A frank region-by-region comparison: budget, access, ski culture, rental yield, and the long-haul liveability question.
The minpaku rules, demystified — can you Airbnb a Japanese akiya?
The 180-day rule, prefectural overrides, and the practical paperwork. What works, what doesn't, and which prefectures are friendliest.
The real cost of an akiya — sticker price vs total of ownership
Sticker prices can be misleading. Renovation, legal fees, ongoing taxes, and the renovation that almost always follows. A realistic breakdown.
The snow-country ski areas — a foreign buyer's map
Where the lifts are, what the snow does there, and which akiya banks sit within commuting distance of each. Twenty-two resorts across six prefectures, ranked by foreign-buyer relevance.